Detroit-based Cremaster Fanatic Amy informed us that Matthew Barney has been working on a new project in Detroit. A bit of digging on the internet reveals that Barney is currently filming a project called Khu, a prologue to his seven-part opera Ancient Evenings [Ren, filmed in Los Angeles in 2007, is another part of the series], which is based on a novel by Norman Mailer about the stages of death according to ancient Egyptian beliefs. In Barney’s interpretation of Mailer's book, the body of a man is replaced with the remains of the Chrysler Imperial featured in Cremaster 3. Beyond the obvious connection between Detroit and Chrysler, Khu apparently includes references to the work of James Lee Byars, a Detroit-based installation/performance artist, and Harry Houdini, who's first jump was off a bridge in Detroit.
The New York Times and this web site hint that there will be a live performance related to Khu held in Detroit this fall.
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